Fairfax County’s plan to build more sidewalk on Chesterbrook Road was received warmly by the McLean residents who joined a virtual community meeting last Wednesday (Nov. 17).

The Chesterbrook Road Walkway project will add about 3,200 feet of concrete sidewalk with curb and gutter on the south side of the street — also known as Route 689 — from Maddux Lane to 41st Street on the Arlington County border.

The new sidewalk will extend a recently completed segment between Maddux and Kirby Road to create a continuous pedestrian facility on the narrow but heavily used road lined with single-family houses.

“In my exercising, I walk along this stretch of highway several times a week, and I’m well aware of the problems and the need for this sidewalk,” 35-year McLean resident Rich Cohen said.

Designed as a country road, Chesterbrook has evolved into a key route for commuters between McLean and Arlington. Plans to redevelop downtown McLean could further widen the gap between the needs of area residents and drivers.

The existing road design presents a number of obstacles, including the limited shoulder width, drainage issues, and utilities and landscaping that need to be relocated or cleared, Fairfax County Department of Transportation project manager Mark VanZandt noted.

While no major modifications are proposed, the roadway will need to be slightly widened in three spots to accommodate off-tracking vehicles. More pavement will be added, but the travel lanes will actually go from 12 feet wide to 11 feet, according to consultant Adam Welschenbach.

“This is to ensure that vehicles stay in their lane and do not drive over pedestrians,” he said.

Currently in the preliminary stages of the design process, the sidewalk itself will be 5 feet wide with a roughly half-foot buffer between the pavement and the curb.

The project will add eight ADA-compliant curb ramps, with crosswalks at Forest Lane and Brookside Road. Those locations were chosen because of their proximity to a lot of houses, Fairfax County engineer Masoud Hajatzadeh said.

FCDOT anticipates that the project will require temporary grading easements from 23 properties. The county also plans to modify and reconstruct 14 driveway entrances to accommodate the new sidewalk.

Staff have not done a tree inventory yet, but VanZandt acknowledged that some clearing is inevitable, given the nature of the project, and the county won’t have the right-of-way needed to replant the trees.

“We do compensate homeowners for tree loss when the tree is on their property during land acquisition process,” VanZandt said. “I know the removal of a tree, it’s difficult to replace.” Read More

A new restaurant featuring the tastes of Persia plans to open soon in McLean.

Divan is currently expected to open in early December. The menu will feature stews with eggplant or herbs, pastas, and kabobs, chef Vicente Torres told Tysons Reporter yesterday (Monday).

“It’s pretty close to opening,” said Torres, who has worked throughout the D.C. region, including at a now-closed Kowkabi establishment, Catch 15.

Divan (1313 Old Chain Bridge Road) is tucked away on the side of a retail complex next to an upcoming Lidl.

The Italian restaurant Pulcinella is relocating nearby. While the website says a mid-November opening is expected, the venue appeared to still be undergoing major renovations when Tysons Reporter passed by yesterday.

In contrast, wine glasses, napkins and silverware adorn tables at Divan.

“Divan Restaurant is a labor of love many years in thought,” its website says. “The multi-cultural diversity of the McLean, Tysons and DC area makes Divan’s location the best place to try this new concept.”

The website for Divan notes that owner Gholam “Tony” Kowkabi, a longtime resident of the Wolf Trap area, has ties to the restaurant industry in D.C., namely Ristorante Piccolo in Georgetown.

Kowkabi was sentenced for mail fraud and failure to collect or pay tax in 2006 regarding several restaurants he owned in D.C., including Ristorante Piccolo, Alamo Grill, and Sole restaurant in Georgetown; Tuscana West near the White House; and Home nightclub in the Penn Quarter neighborhood.

According to court documents, he underpaid sales tax, falsely stated in monthly forms the sales tax he collected from patrons, and was ordered to pay $1.77 million in restitution.

Kowkabi didn’t respond to messages seeking comment.

Torres said Divan has hired around eight employees so far, but they’re still looking for line cooks and kitchen staff.

A beloved 65-year-old security professional killed this week in a crash on Georgetown Pike will be honored with a candlelight vigil in McLean, along with funeral services at the D.C. school where he worked and in his hometown state of Texas.

The family-led candlelight vigil will be held tomorrow (Nov. 20) at 5 p.m. at Langley High School, honoring Fairfax resident Andre Newman, the son of Ray Charles saxophonist David “Fathead” Newman.

Newman was driving east on Georgetown Pike on Saturday (Nov. 13) when he collided with a Range Rover attempting to turn left near Langley High School, police reported. He was taken to the hospital, where he died on Sunday (Nov. 14).

“Andre Newman always seemed to have the light on his side,” said an obituary shared by his daughter. “Born the son of the world renowned Jazz legend, David ‘Fathead’ Newman, Andre knew the weight and gravity of cultivating your personal talents, exhibiting a great work ethic, community servitude and investing into family unity.”

Newman was born in Dallas on May 16, 1956 and earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Bishop College in Marshall, Texas. He moved to the D.C. region to pursue a graduate education at American University, going on to serve as a partial owner of the now-defunct firm Aimats Security Agency.

Starting in August 2002, he worked as a security supervisor at Sidwell Friends, the D.C.-based private school attended by several presidents’ children, from Richard Nixon’s daughters, Julie and Tricia, to Sasha and Malia Obama.

Head of School Bryan Garman praised Newman as a “lifelong learner” who “lived with kindness” in a letter to the Sidwell Friends community.

“A former supervisor of the night shift, he more recently took on mid-day responsibilities, including dismissal,” Garman wrote. “He especially took pride in his meticulous documentation of security incidents and his keen investigative skills.”

Sidwell Friends will have a service at 10 a.m. on Nov. 28. Newman’s Dallas funeral service will be Dec. 5.

He is survived by his wife, Shirleen Newman; his children, Esther Newman, Arianna Newman, and Andre Newman II; and his brothers, Terry, Cadino, and Benji.

Photo via Robert Towell/Flickr

Construction could be on the horizon for a six-story condominium project that was approved for downtown McLean more than three years ago.

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved an interim parking plan on Nov. 9 that lets the existing three-story office building at 6707 Old Dominion Drive maintain its parking obligations while a rear lot is replaced with the new residential development.

Located along Lowell and Emerson avenues, which will be widened from four to six feet and paved with brick, the multi-family residential building will include a partially underground parking garage with 179 spaces across three-and-a-half levels, along with 18 surface parking spaces.

The new parking will serve both the development and the office building, which was built in 1980.

The parking plan will provide shuttle service from three parking locations with a total of 140 spaces:

• St. John’s Episcopal Church (6715 Georgetown Pike)
• St. Luke Serbian Orthodox Church (6801 George Pike)
• St. John the Beloved Roman Catholic Church (6420 Linway Terrace)

There will also be up to 32 spots available on site during the construction project.

As summarized by county staff, the plan also offers “incentives for tenants and patrons to utilize taxis, car-sharing services, Metrobus, and carpools and a program to ensure that construction workers park at an approved offsite location.”

Developer Benchmark Associates will be required to submit periodic reports to the county documenting parking activities and any issues or needed modifications to the plan.

Approved by the Board of Supervisors in October 2018, the project calls for a 94,000 square-foot building with 44 condominium units, 12% of which the developer has committed to making workforce housing.

Proposed amenities include a 3,850 square-foot roof terrace for residents with an outdoor kitchen, fire pit, seating, and an area covered with artificial turf. An outdoor plaza and art for the public are also planned.

According to Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust’s office, no further votes are needed from the Fairfax County Planning Commission or Board of Supervisors for the project, just county staff approvals for the site and building plans.

Benchmark Associates didn’t return messages seeking comment about the timeline of the project by press time.

Construction is anticipated to occur over a 12 to 18‐month period, according to the parking plan.

(Updated at 10:30 a.m. on 11/19/2021) A 65-year-old Fairfax resident involved in a crash that closed Georgetown Pike in McLean over the weekend has died, the Fairfax County Police Department announced this afternoon (Monday).

According to police, Andre Newman was driving a 2012 Nissan Sentra east on Georgetown Pike around 11:37 p.m. on Saturday (Nov. 13) when he side-swiped a 2019 Range Rover that was attempting to turn left from westbound Georgetown Pike onto Langley Lane.

The Nissan drove off the roadway and into a ditch. Newman, the vehicle’s only occupant, sustained injuries considered life-threatening and was transported to a hospital, where he died Sunday morning (Nov. 14). (Correction: This article previously said Newman died Monday morning, rather than on Sunday, as reported by police.) 

The Range Rover contained four passengers: the driver and three juveniles. They remained at the scene of the crash during the FCPD’s preliminary investigation.

“Preliminarily, detectives from our Crash Reconstruction Unit do not believe that speed and alcohol are factors in the crash,” the police department said. “The investigation remains active, and details of the investigation will be presented to the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney for review.”

Newman is the 17th person to die in a road incident that didn’t involve a pedestrian in Fairfax County this year. There were 10 non-pedestrian fatalities in all of 2020.

(Updated at 8:50 p.m. on 11/7/2021) Soccer players, Olympic medalists, public officials, businessmen, and an ambassador descended on Holladay Field (1311 Spring Hill Road) in McLean last weekend to celebrate the facility’s recently completed renovation.

The nearly 2,000 attendees at the Fairfax County Park Authority’s grand opening event on Saturday (Oct. 30) reflected the diversity of participants in the project, which converted the 5.1-acre park’s athletic field from natural to synthetic turf.

“This is a unique project with several key partners, each instrumental in helping to make this project possible and providing funding for this synthetic turf field conversion,” the park authority said in a news release yesterday (Thursday).

The new Holladay Field is a welcome addition to the area’s recreational facilities for McLean Youth Soccer, which said the available spaces for practices and games were insufficient to support its 3,000-plus players.

Synthetic turf requires less maintenance and provides “increased accessibility for user groups” than the existing natural turf, MYS Executive Director Louise Waxler says.

Working with the FCPA, the soccer association contributed $650,000 to the $1.5 million project and even agreed to provide movable side goals for the field when rising material costs pushed it over the available budget.

Donors to MYS included Leidos CEO Roger Krone and United Arab Emirates Ambassador to the U.S. Yousef Al Otaiba, who wanted to contribute as soccer fans and the parents of players, according to the FCPA.

Collectively, the private funding amounted to $725,000. The project also used public money from the county’s 2016 park bond.

Contractors began work on Holladay Field in June.

In addition to creating a full soccer field that can also be used for football, lacrosse, and field hockey, the project brought two underground stormwater management facilities, a bleacher pad, an access trail, and landscape improvements.

In addition to Krone and Al Otaiba, notable figures at the grand opening event included Benita Fitzgerald Mosley, who became the first African American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in the 100-meter hurdles in 1984, and five-time Paralympic swimmer Jessica Long.

Long’s husband Lucas Winters serves as the Elite Clubs National League coach and director of recreation for McLean Youth Soccer.

Washington Spirit captain Andi Sullivan and D.C. United mascot Talon made appearances as well, joining Long in signing autographs for the young soccer players in attendance, according to MYS.

“Thanks to [Dranesville District] Supervisor [John] Foust, the Fairfax County Park Authority, and the generous investment by Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba of the UAE and Leidos, Inc., we became one step closer to meeting our field needs,” Waxler said by email. “This is not only an investment in our kids, but also an investment to the McLean community as a whole.”

A McLean resident who ran a religious mentorship institute out of his home allegedly sexually assaulted at least two children involved in the program, the Fairfax County Police Department reported today (Wednesday).

According to the news release, detectives from the department’s Major Crimes Bureau Child Abuse Squad arrested 75-year-old Antonio Perez-Alcala Monday evening (Nov. 1) at 2001 Great Falls Street, where he lived and operated the Secular Institute Stabat Mater.

Perez-Alcala has been charged with nine counts of aggravated sexual battery and is currently being held without bond at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center.

According to the FCPD, detectives learned on Oct. 28 that a child had told an adult that they were sexually assaulted by a leader of Stabat Mater.

“Detectives determined Antonio Perez-Alcala owned the McLean home where he operated the Secular Institute,” police said in the news release. “Juveniles attended private mentoring sessions, often in Perez-Alcala’s bedroom. The victim was sexually assaulted during the private sessions.”

Police identified a second victim through a preliminary investigation that led them to obtain an arrest warrant for Perez-Alcala.

There could be additional victims, as Perez-Alcala had held various religious positions in Northern Virginia since the mid-1990s, the FCPD says.

Since the mid-1990s, Perez-Alcala held various positions throughout the Northern Virginia area where he had contact with young members of our community. Detectives are asking anyone with information about this case or believe Perez-Alcala had inappropriate contact with a child to please call our Major Crimes Bureau at 703-246-7800, option 3.

Perez-Alcala was affiliated with the Catholic Diocese of Arlington from 1994 to 2008 in a non-ordained capacity. Detectives are working with the Catholic Diocese of Arlington to determine if any additional victims may have been impacted.

The FCPD accepts anonymous tips through Crime Solvers by phone (1-866-411-8477), text (“FCCS” plus tip to 847411), and online. Tipsters can receive cash rewards of $100 to $1,000 if their information leads to an arrest.

Stabat Mater is an all-male group that focuses on “the formation of young people toward integrating the spiritual with the secular” and is part of the U.S. Conference of Secular Institutes.

According to the Secular Institutes website, members commit to a life of “poverty, chastity and obedience” and work to spread Christian teachings through charity and gospel. The practice is part of the Catholic Church, but members can be either clergy or laypersons.

The U.S. Conference of Secular Institutes did not immediately return a request for comment.

According to a 2016 article from the Arlington Catholic Herald, Perez-Alcala got involved with Stabat Mater in the 1960s and was assigned to the D.C. area in 1993. At that time, there were four men in residence at the McLean Stabat Mater.

The Fairfax County Park Authority has opened a 30-day public comment period on its draft plan to allow an arts center at Clemyjontri Park in McLean.

The comment period commenced Thursday night (Oct. 28) with the county’s first public meeting on the proposal since it kicked off the Clemyjontri Park master plan revision process in December.

Possibly the first exclusively in-person public meeting that the park authority has held during the COVID-19 pandemic, the gathering at Franklin Sherman Elementary School was subdued, with county staff appearing to outnumber members of the general public.

The community members in attendance, though, seemed open to the idea of an arts center, albeit with some wariness regarding its potential size and noise and parking impacts.

“As long as there’s screening, the building isn’t too tall, and it stays within the walkway boundary, I’m okay with it,” said a man who lives adjacent to Clemyjontri on the west side. He noted that the park “has been a great neighbor so far.”

Another McLean resident stressed that he’s “not against the arts” but fears the building could end up being too large for the 18.5-acre park, crowding out the families who use its unique playground.

“I just don’t want to see us do something to the park that we’ll regret,” he told Tysons Reporter after the meeting.

The master plan revision focuses on the last of three development phases planned for Clemyjontri Park.

With second phase completed in 2019, the third phase in the current plan calls for the existing house and gardens to host a local history museum or community meeting and event space. It also suggests adding a “small parking area” for event staff and people with disabilities.

Under the revised plan, the house would still be preserved and refurbished, but phase three would instead focus on a new arts center with gallery, studio, and classroom spaces and outdoor amenities, such as a courtyard with gardens for events and a gazebo.

The draft also proposes an overflow parking lot to accommodate increased demand from the arts center as well as tree and shrub plantings to enhance the buffer to adjacent properties and maintain the park’s “natural setting.”

Presented to the Park Authority Board on Oct. 22, the draft plan adheres closely to what was proposed in December, but FCPA staff made a couple changes, including specifying that the plants used for buffering be evergreens in response to public feedback.

“The master plan is for the most part conceptual in detail,” FCPA senior landscape architect and project manager Doug Tipsword said. “However, in this case, clarifying evergreen plants rather than deciduous plants is an important detail for ensuring the intent to mitigate sound and visual impacts has a year-round effect.”

Staff also added a provision for public art, sculpture, and seating along Clemyjontri’s perimeter trails “to further enhance the natural trail experience,” according to the draft. Tipsword says that idea grew more out of refining the conceptual design than as a direct response to public input.

After the public comment period ends around Nov. 27, county staff will revise the draft plan again based on the new feedback before presenting a final plan to the FCPA board for its approval, which could potentially come in January.

If the revisions are approved, the park authority says it will be able to develop a more detailed plan for the development as it goes through the county’s public facilities review and special exception processes.

The county could also start looking for partners to manage the arts center. As the group behind the proposal, the McLean Project for the Arts would be a likely candidate, but it’s not guaranteed, Tipsword says.

“I am thrilled that this proposal has made it to this point,” Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust said. “It is not a done deal…Personally, I hope we’re able to work this out, because I believe it would be a very positive thing.”

The Fairfax County Department of Transportation has extended the Oct. 18 deadline for its community survey on proposed changes to bus service in Centreville, Chantilly, Vienna, Tysons, and neighboring areas, including McLean and Falls Church.

The online survey, which is available in English and Spanish, will now be open until next Wednesday (Oct. 27).

Unveiled at virtual public meetings on Sept. 30 and Oct. 7, the preferred plan will enable Fairfax Connector to serve more people, reduce travel times, maintain more reliable schedules, and provide more access to key destinations in the area, according to FCDOT.

“We encourage people to take the survey so they can tell us what is most important to them in the preferred bus plan for the Centreville, Chantilly, Vienna and Tysons areas,” FCDOT Transit Planning Chief Michael Felschow said. “The service belongs to our riders and our goal is to make it dependable, convenient and on-time.”

Fairfax Connector launched its review last year as part of a broader effort to identify service improvements that could be made throughout the transit system. So far, the evaluation has also included looks at the Franconia-Springfield area as well as Reston and Herndon.

County officials initially presented three possible plans: one similar to existing service patterns, one that completely overhauled the service area, and a hybrid. The preferred plan now under consideration is the product of revisions based on community feedback.

The proposed plan encompasses 24 bus routes, including several involving the Tysons area:

• Route 427 (North Tysons-Spring Hill): A new route between the Spring Hill Metro station and the McLean Governmental Center area, via Jones Branch Drive and Spring Hill Road
• Route 468 (Vienna-Reston): A new route between the Vienna and future Reston Town Center Metro stations, via Lawyers and Soapstone roads
• Route 660 (Centreville-Tysons): New, direct express service between the Centreville Park & Ride on Stone Road and the Tysons Metro station, via the Vienna station and I-495 Express Lanes
• Route 662 (Centreville-Vienna): New off-peak and weekend service between the Centreville Park & Ride and the Vienna Metro station, via I-66
• Route 671 (Chantilly-Vienna): New off-peak and weekend service with limited stops between Chantilly and the Vienna Metro station, via Route 50
• Route 722 (McLean-Langley): A new express route between the McLean Metro station and Langley, via Route 123/Dolley Madison Boulevard

Some existing routes in the plan will have better connectivity or more frequent service, such as Route 467 between Dunn Loring and Tysons and Route 461, which travels in a loop through Vienna and Oakton.

A full breakdown of the routes and service maps can be found on FCDOT’s website.

Fairfax Connector is also studying a “flex service concept area” in Vienna and McLean northwest of Route 123 “as a way to provide future on-demand service to and from the four Metro Stations within Tysons,” according to a map showing the preferred plan’s peak service routes.

According to FCDOT, the preferred plan will shave about a minute off the average travel time within the review area compared to its existing Connector service. It will also put an additional 2,700 people within a quarter-mile of the bus system.

The changes will provide more service to population and job centers as well as minority communities and households with an income at or below $50,000, according to the county.

Along with filling out the online survey, community members can also provide input by phone (703-877-5600), email ([email protected]), and mail (Fairfax County Department of Transportation, 4050 Legato Road, Suite 400, Fairfax, VA 22033).

Updated at 12:15 p.m. — The crash site has been cleared, and all travel lanes on George Washington Memorial Parkway are now open with no delays reported as of noon, according to Metropolitan Area Transportation Operations Coordination.

FINAL: Crash with Injury. George Washington Parkway SB before VA-123. Fairfax County, VA. Incident clear and all travel lanes are reopened. No delays reported at this time.

— MATOC Alerts (@MATOC) October 22, 2021

Earlier: A driver was killed in the crash that shut down southbound George Washington Memorial Parkway in McLean this morning (Friday), the U.S. Park Police says.

Park Police officers responded to the one-car crash on the parkway near the entrance to the CIA headquarters at approximately 5:18 a.m. The driver, who was the vehicle’s sole occupant, was pronounced dead at the scene.

“This incident is currently under investigation,” a U.S. Park Police spokesperson said. “Additional information will be provided as it becomes available.”

Traffic closures remain in effect at the I-495 ramps to southbound George Washington Parkway and Turkey Run, according to police.

Metropolitan Area Transportation Operations Coordination reported at 5:51 a.m. that all southbound lanes on the parkway were blocked between the Capital Beltway and Route 123, slowing traffic to a crawl.

Ramps from the Inner and Outer Beltway Loops to George Washington Parkway were also closed, the Virginia Department of Transportation said.

https://twitter.com/VaDOTNOVA/status/1451512631483895818

George Washington Pkwy southbound CLOSED between I-495/Capital Beltway and VA-123/Chain Bridge Rd
Crash Investigation.
GW SB not accessible From I-495.
Extended closure expected. NB Lanes Open.

Listen live to WTOP's latest traffic reports every 10 minutes on the 8s. https://t.co/iHSDUC0yin

— WTOP Traffic (@WTOPtraffic) October 22, 2021